Back-pay for almost 250 restaurant staff

The operator of a dozen restaurants across Melbourne has been required to back-pay almost 250 workers after inadvertently underpaying their Christmas Day entitlements.

The 246 employees have been reimbursed a total of $21,700 following intervention by the Fair Work Ombudsman.

The largest individual underpayment was $181.

Fair Work Ombudsman Natalie James says the restaurant operator mistakenly believed it could declare Christmas Day a “shut-down”, rather than paying its permanent employees for a day off for a public holiday.

Ms James says most underpayments are inadvertent and the result of employers failing to check their minimum obligations under workplace laws.

"When we find errors, our preference is to educate employers about their obligations and assist them to put processes in place to ensure the mistakes are not repeated," she said.

In 2014-15, the Fair Work Ombudsman recovered $5.9 million in underpaid wages and entitlements for 4070 employees in Melbourne.

Ms James encouraged employers who had any uncertainty about whether their workplace practices were appropriate to visit www.fairwork.gov.au or call the Infoline 13 13 94 for advice. A free interpreter service is available on 13 14 50.

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